• Gynaecological cancer
• anxiety
• depression
• distress
• radiotherapy
• trajectory

• Humans
• Female
• Middle Aged
• Genital Neoplasms, Female/radiotherapy
• Genital Neoplasms, Female/psychology
• Depression/psychology
• Anxiety/psychology
• Aged
• Psychological Distress
• Adult

• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Health promotion
• Mindfulness
• Ovarian cancer
• Quality of life
• Rural
• Survivorship
• Web-based intervention

• Female
• Humans
• Middle Aged
• Adaptation, Psychological
• Anxiety/therapy
• Anxiety/psychology
• Cancer Survivors/psychology
• Depression/therapy
• Depression/epidemiology
• Depression/psychology
• Fatigue/therapy
• Fatigue/psychology
• Healthy Lifestyle
• Internet-Based Intervention
• Mindfulness/methods
• Ovarian Neoplasms/psychology
• Ovarian Neoplasms/therapy
• Quality of Life
• Rural Population
• Stress, Psychological/therapy
• Stress, Psychological/psychology
• Urban Population
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
• Multicenter Studies as Topic
• Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic

• P30 CA086862 NCI NIH HHS
• R01 CA246540 NCI NIH HHS
• T32 GM108540 NIGMS NIH HHS
• T32 GM149386 NIGMS NIH HHS
• UM1 TR004403 NCATS NIH HHS

• adjuvant therapy
• endometrial cancer
• laparoscopy
• physician-patient communication
• quality of life
• radiotherapy
• social support
• well-being

• awareness
• cancer
• coping strategies
• oncology
• psychological distress
• quality of life

• Advanced cancer
• Experiential avoidance
• Mixed methods
• Psycho-oncology
• Systematic review

• Adult
• Humans
• Stress, Psychological/psychology
• Quality of Life/psychology
• Emotions
• Affect
• Neoplasms/psychology

• MCCC-FCO-11-U Marie Curie
• University College London (UCL)

• Humans
• Female
• Quality of Life
• Genital Neoplasms, Female
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/diagnosis
• Disease-Free Survival
• Educational Status
• Surveys and Questionnaires

• Coping
• DNR order
• End-of-life care
• Health disparities
• Health-care proxy
• Latino
• Living will

• Hispanic or Latino
• Advance Care Planning/statistics & numerical data
• Humans
• Male
• Female
• Middle Aged
• Aged
• Emotions
• Psychosocial Support Systems
• United States

• K07 CA207580 NCI NIH HHS
• UL1 TR002384 NIH HHS
• UL1 TR002384 NCATS NIH HHS
• K07CA207580 NCI NIH HHS
• R35 CA197730 NCI NIH HHS
• R01 MD007652 NIMHD NIH HHS

• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Genital Neoplasms, Female
• Guidelines as Topic

• Female
• Humans
• Genital Neoplasms, Female/therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Quality of Life
• Treatment Outcome
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/etiology

To date, no studies have assessed climacteric symptoms after hystero-adnexectomy for endometrial, cervical, or ovarian cancer. Thus, this study aimed to compare climacteric symptoms among patients who underwent surgery for these three cancer types.

In this cross-sectional study, we interviewed patients who were registered at a menopausal outpatient clinic between January 1999 and July 2016 after undergoing total hysterectomy, intrapelvic only or intrapelvic plus para-aortic lymph node dissection, and bilateral adnexectomy performed via laparotomy as a cancer treatment. Climacteric symptoms were assessed using a patient-reported questionnaire covering core domains with five symptoms only at the initial consultation. Each symptom was graded from 0 (no symptoms) to 3 (severe symptoms). We evaluated the frequency of symptom severity according to the time elapsed since surgery and the cancer type.

The numbers of patients with endometrial, ovarian, and cervical cancer were 328, 90, and 107, respectively. Overall, climacteric symptoms were more severe in patients with cervical cancer than in those with endometrial or ovarian cancer; symptom severity decreased with increasing time since surgery. However, symptom severity did not decrease significantly over time in patients with cervical cancer even after > 5 years had elapsed since surgery.

The climacteric symptoms were less severe in patients with endometrial or ovarian cancer with longer time elapsed since surgery but not in those with cervical cancer. Patients with cervical cancer may require more prompt interventions, including symptomatic treatment and longer follow-up period, than those with endometrial or ovarian cancer.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00520-022-07117-z.

The Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance’s Woman to Woman (W2W) program is a peer mentorship program for women with gynecological cancer that was founded in 2004 and has expanded to 43 sites nationwide. An initial program survey was conducted in 2013, but no qualitative studies have investigated patient experiences with peer support programs for gynecologic cancer in the USA. This study examines the match experience at one program site. The aim of this qualitative study was to capture mentor and mentee experiences giving and receiving peer support, including how relationships were initiated and developed.

Hour-long, semi-structured interviews were conducted with both mentors and mentees. Interviews focused on the dynamics of the mentor–mentee relationship. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and open-coded. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to organize findings into themes.

Sixteen participants (N = 16) were interviewed (seven mentors and nine mentees.) Three broad themes emerged: (i) pathways to the program; (ii) how connection occurred; and (iii) themes of compatibility. While program participants universally valued their match experience, frequency and mode of communication, as well as expectations of the match relationship were widely divergent among the program participants.

The W2W peer mentorship program is a valuable resource for patients with gynecologic cancer. Refining the wants and needs of mentees including mode of communication, frequency of communication, type of support desired, identifying topics of mutual interest, and introducing the concept of recurrence may improve the connectivity experienced by mentor–mentee dyads.

• Gynecologic cancer
• Mentorship
• Peer
• Qualitative
• Support

• Breast cancer
• Meta-analysis
• Qigong
• Systematic review

• Hispanic
• affect
• breast cancer
• cancer
• coping
• disparities
• oncology
• psycho-oncology
• quality of life

•

COVID-19 challenges mechanisms of gynecologic cancer care delivery.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges for oncology patients and clinicians. While guidelines for oncology care delivery during the pandemic have been established, there is a paucity of data examining patient experiences of cancer care during the COVID pandemic. This qualitative study captured the perspectives of women undergoing active treatment for gynecologic malignancy at an academic medical center. Hour-long semi-structured interviews were conducted via video-conference and transcribed verbatim. Focused coding was conducted to identify all data related to COVID-19. These data were then categorized into themes that emerged inductively. Seven women (N = 7) were interviewed. Several themes arose under two main categories: 1) Impact of COVID-19 on cancer care delivery and interactions and 2) Intersection of cancer and COVID-19 outside of the healthcare setting. Under category 1, themes included: going to treatment alone; variable access to care and information. Under category 2, themes included: unavailability of cancer-specific social support; mask wearing; COVID-19 & life outlook; adapting coping strategies. Participants’ perceptions of having cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic varied and were not always negative. Healthcare systems can draw on our findings to inform interventions to ensure optimal patient care. Additionally, given our finding that noncompliance with mask wearing and physical distancing can be uniquely distressing to cancer patients, healthcare systems should prioritize clear messaging around COVID-19 precautions and ensure compliance of staff and patrons. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the pandemic, outcomes for these patients should be monitored and care guidelines should incorporate first-hand patient narratives.

• Coping
• Covid-19
• Gynecologic cancer
• Peer support
• Qualitative

• Gynecology
• Roy adaptation model
• patient discharge
• quality of life
• selfesteem

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Female
• Genital Neoplasms, Female
• Humans
• Patient Discharge
• Quality of Life
• Self Concept

• emotional distress
• endovaginal high-dose-rate IRT
• human approach
• patient perspective

• 20130418 Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Health
• Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Health

Cancer patients and survivors need to cope with many physical and emotional stressors. This cross-sectional study compared the perceived stress, coping, quality of life (QOL), and hopelessness between cancer patients and cancer survivors and examined the relationship of perceived stress with coping, QOL, and hopelessness in cancer patients and cancer survivors.

Using a purposive sampling technique, this study was conducted in the Medical Oncology Department of a multi-specialty tertiary care teaching hospital between February and May 2018. Thirty participants (15 cancer patients and 15 cancer survivors) in the age range of 30–60 years took part in the study. Both groups were assessed by the following instruments: Perceived Stress Scale, Coping Checklist, Quality of Life-Cancer, and Beck Hopelessness Scale.

Cancer patients are using maladaptive coping strategies and experiencing psychological distress with reduced QOL than cancer survivors. Furthermore, hopelessness was positively correlated with QOL among cancer survivors.

Cancer patients are found to be distressed and hopeless with significant reductions in their QOL.

• Cancer
• coping
• quality of life
• stress

• Cancer Survivors/psychology
• Female
• Humans
• Hysterectomy/rehabilitation
• Middle Aged
• Quality of Life
• Retrospective Studies
• Rome/epidemiology
• Sexual Behavior
• Urinary Incontinence/epidemiology
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/surgery

Development of psychosocial group interventions for ovarian cancer survivors has been limited. Drawing from elements of cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), we developed and conducted preliminary testing of an Internet-based group intervention tailored specifically to meet the needs of ovarian cancer survivors. The Internet-based platform facilitated home delivery of the psychosocial intervention to a group of cancer survivors for whom attending face-to-face programs could be difficult given their physical limitations and the small number of ovarian cancer survivors at any one treatment site.

The aim of this study was to develop, optimize, and assess the usability, acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary intended effects of an Internet-based group stress management intervention for ovarian cancer survivors delivered via a tablet or laptop.

In total, 9 ovarian cancer survivors provided feedback during usability testing. Subsequently, 19 survivors participated in 5 waves of field testing of the 10-week group intervention led by 2 psychologists. The group met weekly for 2 hours via an Internet-based videoconference platform. Structured interviews and weekly evaluations were used to elicit feedback on the website and intervention content. Before and after the intervention, measures of mood, quality of life (QOL), perceived stress, sleep, and social support were administered. Paired t tests were used to examine changes in psychosocial measures over time.

Usability results indicated that participants (n=9) performed basic tablet functions quickly with no errors and performed website functions easily with a low frequency of errors. In the field trial (n=19), across 5 groups, the 10-week intervention was well attended. Perceived stress (P=.03) and ovarian cancer-specific QOL (P=.01) both improved significantly during the course of the intervention. Trends toward decreased distress (P=.18) and greater physical (P=.05) and functional well-being (P=.06) were also observed. Qualitative interviews revealed that the most common obstacles participants experienced were technical issues and the time commitment for practicing the techniques taught in the program. Participants reported that the intervention helped them to overcome a sense of isolation and that they appreciated the ability to participate at home.

An Internet-based group intervention tailored specifically for ovarian cancer survivors is highly usable and acceptable with moderate levels of feasibility. Preliminary psychosocial outcomes indicate decreases in perceived stress and improvements in ovarian cancer-specific QOL following the intervention. A randomized clinical trial is needed to demonstrate the efficacy of this promising intervention for ovarian cancer survivors.

• eHealth
• feasibility studies
• ovarian cancer
• psychological stress
• quality of life

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Adult
• Aged
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Humans
• Male
• Melanoma/diagnosis
• Melanoma/psychology
• Middle Aged
• Quality of Life/psychology
• Skin Neoplasms/diagnosis
• Skin Neoplasms/psychology
• Time Factors
• Young Adult
• Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant

• ovarian cancer
• problems
• quality of life
• survivorship

• Anxiety
• Cancer
• Depression
• Religiosity
• Religious coping

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Anxiety Disorders/complications
• Anxiety Disorders/psychology
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Depressive Disorder/complications
• Depressive Disorder/psychology
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasms/complications
• Neoplasms/psychology
• Religion and Psychology
• Surveys and Questionnaires

• cancer
• coping
• quality of life
• resilience

• Depression
• Growth mixture modeling
• Gynecologic neoplasms
• Physical impairment
• Quality of life

• Aged
• Depression/psychology
• Female
• Genital Neoplasms, Female/psychology
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Quality of Life/psychology

• R01 CA085566 NCI NIH HHS
• R01 CA185623 NCI NIH HHS

The aim of the study was to assess the quality of life (QoL) in women suffering from cancer cervix before and after the treatment, to study various factors affecting the QoL in these women, and to evaluate the impact of treatment modalities on the QoL.

Women with cervical cancer attending Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Radiotherapy who met the eligibility criteria were interviewed with a structured questionnaire of QoL, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ30, and its Cervical Cancer Module (Cx24). The baseline observations were recorded when the patient first reported, second evaluation was done at 3 months posttreatment, and the third evaluation at 6 months posttreatment. QoL domains along with sociodemographic and clinicopathological variables were analyzed.

A total of ninety patients were included for analysis, of which 5 were lost to follow up. A statistically significant improvement was found in physical, emotional function, pain, fatigue, and vaginal symptoms of the participants; however, there was no significant improvement in social, cognitive, or role functioning, body image, sexual activity, or sexual enjoyment. Vaginal and sexual function worsened significantly. Multivariate analysis showed that young women and those with a higher level of education had better QoL. Stage and type of cancer had little impact on the general QoL, but participants with earlier stage and well-differentiated cancer had better cancer cervix-specific QoL.

The QoL of the participants in terms of physical (P = 0.04) and emotional functioning (P = 0.001) improved with treatment. Women with a higher level of education and early stage of disease had better QoL.

• Cancer cervix
• gynecological cancer
• quality of life
• treated patients

• Ovarian cancer
• Quality of life
• Survivors

• anxiety
• coping behavior
• depression
• incurable cancer
• palliative care
• quality of life

For the current study the Lazarian stress-coping theory and the appendant model of psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and disabilities (Pakenham, 1999) has shaped the foundation for identifying determinants of adjustment to ALS. We aimed to investigate the evolution of psychosocial adjustment to ALS and to determine its long-term predictors. A longitudinal study design with four measurement time points was therefore, used to assess patients' quality of life, depression, and stress-coping model related aspects, such as illness characteristics, social support, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies during a period of 2 years. Regression analyses revealed that 55% of the variance of severity of depressive symptoms and 47% of the variance in quality of life at T2 was accounted for by all the T1 predictor variables taken together. On the level of individual contributions, protective buffering, and appraisal of own coping potential accounted for a significant percentage in the variance in severity of depressive symptoms, whereas problem management coping strategies explained variance in quality of life scores. Illness characteristics at T2 did not explain any variance of both adjustment outcomes. Overall, the pattern of the longitudinal results indicated stable depressive symptoms and quality of life indices reflecting a successful adjustment to the disease across four measurement time points during a period of about two years. Empirical evidence is provided for the predictive value of social support, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies, but not illness parameters such as severity and duration for adaptation to ALS. The current study contributes to a better conceptualization of adjustment, allowing us to provide evidence-based support beyond medical and physical intervention for people with ALS.

• ALS
• coping
• depression
• longitudinal assessment
• quality of life

• Female
• Humans
• Leg
• Lymphedema/physiopathology
• Middle Aged
• Motor Activity/physiology
• Prospective Studies
• Quality of Life
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Survivors
• Uterine Neoplasms/physiopathology
• Uterine Neoplasms/rehabilitation
• Walking/physiology

• U54 CA155850 NCI NIH HHS

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Life events
• Life stress
• Ovarian cancer
• Quality of life

• cancer
• coping
• medical communication
• palliative care
• patient

• Adult
• Cervix Uteri/surgery
• Female
• Humans
• Hysterectomy/psychology
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Staging
• Pelvic Floor/surgery
• Pilot Projects
• Postoperative Complications/diagnosis
• Postoperative Complications/psychology
• Sexual Behavior
• Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological/diagnosis
• Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological/psychology
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/pathology
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/surgery
• Vagina/surgery

A long-term prospective assessment of QoL in cervical cancer patients is still lacking. Here, we provide the first 2-years prospective, longitudinal study evaluating emotional distress and QoL in early stage (ECC) and locally advanced (LACC) cervical cancer patients who remained disease-free 2-years from diagnosis.

The questionnaires: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Global Health Status items of EORTC QLQ-C30 (GHS), and EORTC QLQ-CX24 (CX24) have been administered by a dedicated team of psycho-oncologists, administered at baseline, and after 3, 6, 12 and 24 months from surgery The Generalized Linear Model for repeated measure was used to analyze modifications of QoL measures over time.

In both groups, an early reduction of the percentage of patients with anxiety levels ≥11 was observed at the 3-month evaluation (ECC: 25.7% at baseline Vs 14.7% after 3 months, p value=0.001; LACC: 22.2% at baseline Vs 15.4% after 3 months, p value=0.001). Despite this favorable trend, after 2 years from diagnosis, 11.9% of ECC and 15.6% of LACC patients still showed an anxiety score ≥11. No significant changes over time were observed in term of Depression levels. Focusing on QoL issues, mean GHS and Sexual Activity scores showed an improvement over time in both groups compared to baseline (GHS: 5.7% difference for ECC, p value=0.001, and 11.0% in LACC, p value=0.001; SXA: 13.9% difference for ECC, p value=0.001; and 6.1% in LACC, p value=0.008). On the other hand, Body Image mean scores were significantly impaired by chemoradiation administration in LACC patients, without long-term recovery (7.5% difference, p value=0.001). Finally, in both groups, lymphedema (LY) and menopausal symptoms (MS) showed an early worsening which persisted 2-year after surgery (LY: 19.5% difference for ECC, p value=0.014, and 27.3% in LACC, p value=0.001; MS: 14.4% difference for ECC, p value=0.004, and 16.0% in LACC, p value=0.002).

Despite a significant improvement over time, elevated anxiety levels are still detectable at 24 months after surgery in approximately 10% of cervical cancer patients. Much more attention should be focused on surgical/medical approaches able to minimize the negative impact of lymphedema and menopausal symptoms on QoL.

• suicide
• distress
• gynecologic cancer
• women